“A 5-year $55 million dollar contract is what Ben Gordon was reported to be looking for, and the starting salary for that deal would by just under $9.5 million. The Pistons have been reported to have $20 million in cap space, so will still have around $10.5 million to spend on other free agents. If Charlie Villanueva agree to a contract starting at around the $7 million dollar range, Dumars will have a little cap space left over to initiate a salary cap trade or to sign a lower level free agent.”

This is ridiculous. 11 Mio for that guy? So Dumars wants to trade Rip… Villanueva is going to be the next “star” for the Pistons? With that kind of group, you should be lucky if you’re reaching the 8th spot in the East. Thank You for nothing.

remember when this whiney little baby was crying when Ben Wallace went to chicago about he should be paid more cause he’s a better player? This is bullcrap. And the thing about the championship was they had no glaring weakness, no player could be particularly taken advantage of. Ben Gordon always gets abused by Rip Chauncey and so many others. God seriously why did Joe Dumars give me hope then take it away?

There’s no point in getting salary cap if you have no idea what to do with it Joe D

I want to know exactly what people here complaining wanted and expected him to do. What was he going to do, sign nobody? He has a plan here, guys. I fully expect Rip to be traded for a big man soon. He may already have a deal in place if he went ahead and pulled the trigger for Ben. Numbers wise, Ben is a better player than Rip, and he’s younger. The only advantage that Rip has is height.

Relax people. Most of you acted a fool when we got Ben Wallace saying he was too small for the 5 spot and that Sheed was going to be a cancer, yet we won the whole damn thing. Now if Ben and Charlie are the only two pieces, then we have a problem. But if a trade is in the works, this thing might work out…

If you guys think about it some of our past players werent really known for the things they are known for now. Rip and Chauncey werent really known for good defence until they go to Detroit. Maybe Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva will become better players with their stay here.

You mention Duncan, KG, Shaq etc. as having a post game. Yes they do, but the Pistons aren’t going to get any of those players. Great post players don’t come along very often, so I think Charlie V is a good fit.

I don’t understand why people are upset. Who was available that is better than CV and Gordon? The Jazz will trade boozer to retail Millsap, and Turk is 30 and plays the same position as Tay. If anyone thinks we could have saved the money for Wade or Bosh, they are smokin’ something. This was the best that was available.

I hate Pistons fans. Neither of these guys has played a second in a Pistons uniform and we don’t even have a coach yet… and at least half of you guys are already bitching. We just picked up the two best free agents on the market. What’s there to be upset about? What exactly were you expecting Gordon to sign for? He’s consistently rejected lower offers; do you really think low-balling him a third time would even be worth the overture? We had cap space and we used it as wisely and aggressively as the circumstances allowed. Or would you rather we just sit on it and endure another long long season of mediocrity? Please don’t tell me you were eyeing Turkoglu… blargh…

Ben has been overpayed for a 6th man. If Detroit doesn’t make a trade involving Rip or possibly Prince then I see problems with this line up. You can’t have Gordon and Stuckey on the court at the same time, they both need the ball to be successful. Add Will Bynum, Charlie Villanueva, and Tayshaun in to the mix and Detroit will be playing isolation basketball for the entire upcoming season. Which is never a good look considering the Cavs couldn’t do it this year, and they had LeBron in the line-up.

This would be the deepest and one of the youngest teams in the league! The money being spent on Gordon is about the same that was being spent on Sheed. Would you rather we spend 14 mil. on Boozer? How about 15mil for Bosh? Kobe just gave the hometown discount of 22 mil to the Fakers. 11 and 7 mil for the players we wanted in free agency is not bad at all. And for the nervous nellies, BG has averaged 21 for his career, is a 3-point shooter and has done it off the bench primarily. There is no way Joe promised him a starting spot; he knows he is coming off the bench for 30 minutes a game, this was about the money and getting some appreciation. Keep Rip in Detroit! He is no spring chicken, but he can still score and gives a size, speed, and leadership from the backcourt!

Absolute nonsense. The idea that certain players only get up for contract years is the sort of off the cuff Skip Bayless-esque over-analysis that should be promptly banned from all media. Never in all my years of watching the NBA have I seen this occur with any player of Ben Gordon’s caliber. Sure, lower tier players will often “cash in” on a good playoff performance (like Ariza will likely do this off-season) before coming back to Earth, but gamers like Gordon (i.e. guys who average 20+) don’t just “slack off” once they get a nice big contract…

Well said, SC. Ben Gordon is one of the most professional and hardworking players in the league, and none of that will change this contract. Hell, the fact that he’ll be playing for a team that clearly wanted him will probably help to motivate him and push him further. But the guy was still participating in Bull related community events despite not being under contract with Chicago.

McDyess isn’t gonna resign with you, he wants a championship. Did you think he’s been playing for 500k cause he likes the pile of failure that is Detroit?

Kwame is garbage

Vilanueva is good Offensively but a ballhog that refuses to play defense (really if he won’t play D for Scott Sciles in a contract year, he won’t play defense for you).

Prince is pretty good defensively but not really a star.

Hamilton is good but reliant on his teamates to be effective, and is overpayed by about 6 million.

Gordon is good offensively, but not as good as Billups, who you essentially him for, and he’s also overpayed by 6 million.

Stuckey is overrated, and can’t save you

So you Have a Garbage center. A 25 minute PF that will NEVER play defense, a decent backup big that is still a backup. a defensive small forward that can’t carry you offensively, 23 million worth of shooting guards that can’t play at the same time and can’t carry you offensively OR defensively, and a overrated point guard who can’t carry you either.

And YAY! you spent yourself out of the 2010 free agent bananza, and you have no hope of contending till Hamilton’s contract runs out (in 4 years).

Wow – I am really surprised by the universally negative reaction to this news. Who else were we going to get folks? BG averaged 20 a game regular season and was a stud in the Boston series – did any of you watch that? Charlie V just came off a season of 16 and 8 playing with a bunch of scrubs in Milwaukee. Rip is going to be traded and good riddance – I hope Joe purges all of those guys from the fluke ship of 2004 – they walk with a strut and get mad T’s but they fold under pressure – and they are old. Atlanta Braves of the NBA. They can get rid of Prince too. Where has he been the last two years in the playoffs?

In the words of Sheed, you’re either with us or against us. I refuse to believe there are so many haters in Piston Nation, so you must be against us. I read the Chi-Town hateration saying we will be stuck at .500 for years and years to come, and the spew being spat reminded me of many of your words.

All I have to say is, we’ll see who is right and who was true blue all along.

y would joe D want to get rid of rip for a big? we have kwame, dyess, sheed, maxiell (who btw is far younger than charlie and boozer) and we just got daye in the draft, we have our team right there!!! Who else could we possibly need? we now have plenty a depth. i cant believe maxiell wouldnt be a starter now, he is like a shaq that can actually hustle down the court. then for the guards, we got stuckey, bynum, gordon, and rip, and tayshaun. so here’s the starting 5: Stuckey, rip, gordon, tayshaun, maxiell. We can play small!! we have the depth now we just got 2 use it!!

f off diogenes, that team in ’04 was supposed to be the face of our franchise for years to cum. the only problem was coaching, dont tell me that they fell under pressure. there was absolutely nothing wrong with last years team at the beginning, 4-0 and then chauncey, gone, that ended our era.